Vaccine Access and the Nurse Practitioner
A Shot@Life Champion speaks about her trip to Washington, D.C., as an advocate for lifesaving vaccinations.
In 2012, the United Nations Foundation launched the Shot@Life campaign to raise awareness about global vaccine disparities and empower vaccine advocates, known as Shot@Life Champions. Through our longstanding partnership with United Nations – Shot@Life, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) has welcomed the opportunity to designate and select members to attend the Annual Shot@Life Summit. In addition to AANP’s annual Health Policy Conference, nurse practitioners (NPs) attending Shot@Life’s annual summit gain valuable tools to enhance their advocacy skills and are fully prepared to engage in discussions with legislators about the critical importance of vaccines. This year, eight AANP members traveled to Washington, D.C., as Shot@Life Champions. Since 2012, Shot@Life has trained more than five thousand Americans “to become global vaccine equity advocates” and provided more than 130 million vaccines to children. Furthermore, as a result of our partnership with Shot@Life, and the continuing education (CE) course “Shot@Life – Using Your Voice to Protect Global Childhood Immunization Programs” available to our members in the AANP CE Center, 1,749 new NP champions were trained in 2024.
Ivy Bagley, DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, IBCLC, CDP, NHDP-BC, PMH-BC, is an NP based in eastern North Carolina. One day, she came across a notice inviting individuals to come to the nation’s capital and become Shot@Life Champions — meaning they would take part in workshops and trainings to learn more about vaccine equity and then would be sent to communicate that important information directly to their elected representatives. Bagley applied, and when she learned she had been awarded a scholarship, she was excited but wasn’t sure what to expect. “I had never been to the United States capital to advocate, so that was a new experience,” she says. Read on to learn about Bagley’s commitment to care, her interest in lifesaving vaccinations and her experience at the Shot@Life Champion Summit.
Experiencing and Offering Quality Health Care
Like so many NPs, Bagley was inspired to become a nurse after witnessing the power of caregivers in moments of crisis. When Bagley was 13 years old, her mother “was in a serious car accident,” Bagley recalls. “That truly shaped my career choice of becoming a nurse, because I saw all of the great care that she received from nurses. It sparked my interest.” After attending nursing school, Bagley worked in a pediatric office for 17 years and then became a family NP. Concerned about the lack of mental health care in her part of North Carolina, she recently went back to school to be able to provide that service to patients. “I just finished my psychiatric NP certificate and should sit for the board exam soon,” she says.
Bagley is also currently seeing patients through a mobile clinic. “I go to families’ homes and I'm able to help moms who are breastfeeding. If I need to spend an hour with them, I can. If I need to spend a Saturday morning to see a kid who's sick, I'm able to do that. I have a lot of flexibility in how I'm able to help families.” Bagley has found that traveling to meet patients where they literally “are”, has proven extremely helpful, especially when it comes to visiting the families of autistic children. “Being in the home, a child tends to be much more comfortable. When doing exams, we can take our time. There's less stress, so it's been a good change for me, and I think it's been a good change for the families.” Drawn to challenges, Bagley also takes part in mission trips abroad and steps up to assist in disaster recovery efforts — which recently included helping out in the mountains of North Carolina during Hurricane Helene. Always looking for new ways to give back, Bagley was a natural fit to become a Shot@Life Champion.
Ivy Bagley Goes to Washington
Bagley arrived in Washington, D.C., on a Sunday, and spent her Monday training with other attendees and listening to speakers. On Tuesday, she and the other Shot@Life Champions met with members of Congress in regional groups. “I had a great group from North Carolina,” she says. “We had some really good interactions. I feel like we were able to talk and share about why we're passionate for access to vaccines for preventable illnesses.” Bagley emphasizes the importance of not just speaking with elected representatives but doing it face-to-face. “I think having that face-to-face makes it a little more personal. I also think that it shows that you really are committed to being involved, and they’re not going to forget you after they’ve met with you.”
When asked what Bagley would like to share with other NPs, she says that “sometimes, as NPs or nurses in general, our voice is often not heard as well because people view physicians as the be-all, end-all. We need to step up a little bit more to let people know that we are passionate about access to care. I believe that people should have access to vaccines throughout the world, because many of these diseases are preventable through vaccination.” In retrospect, her experience learning more about vaccination and sharing her passion for vaccine equity with elected representatives in Washington, D.C., was an overwhelmingly positive one. “I feel like I learned a lot through the program. I feel like it has helped me feel a little more confident in advocating for patients’ access to care.”
Hear From More Champions and Earn CE Credit
Shot@Life engages with our membership at our annual AANP Health Policy Conference to continue advancing vaccine advocacy. As a result, we see the impact and growth within our membership who actively engage in this advocacy work and partnership. If you are also interested in learning more about Shot@Life or even becoming a Champion like Bagley, visit Shot@Life’s website to learn more. To hear about other NPs involved with Shot@Life, browse profiles of past Champions like Reenu Varghese, Beth Luthy and more. You can also enroll in the AANP CE Center activity “Shot@Life – Using Your Voice to Protect Global Childhood Immunization Programs” which offers 0.9 CH of CE credit.